Life Goes On
by Cheshire'sArrow
Summary: Even Hunters-in-training have to go to high school. Adam doesn't like when people make false accusations, especially about his family. 7th in the Clint Winchester series


_Alright, my dears, here is the next installment. I know it took a while to get this out, but I'm currently working two jobs and I just found out that I'm going to be a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding. SO. Here is the next part, which is just a one shot. Enjoy!_

* * *

 _March 2007_

Adam Milligan had always enjoyed school. Yeah, that was sort of weird, as several kids from his youth would constantly remind him, but he was always eager to learn. But now, however, after Hunter training and the shapeshifter incident (of which Clint was absolutely pissed about), school seemed fairly boring. He was still slightly bruised from his last bout of training, and he rubbed his sore arm absently.

 _"_ _Adam Milligan to the principal's office,"_ the school's secretaries voice came from the overhead speaker during his fifth period biology class, and he looked at it in slight confusion before gathering his school supplies and making his way out of the classroom and down the hall where the principal was waiting in his office. Sitting next to the principal was a stern-looking woman dressed in a pantsuit, her blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun, whom he recognized as one of the school councilors.

The principal – a balding man in his early forties – looked up and gave Adam a small smile when he entered the office.

"Mr. Milligan, please have a seat," he said, gesturing to the empty chair in front of him and the woman, who simply stared at the teenager. He did so, a little confused as to why he was even here. As far as he was aware, he'd been a model student in the time that he'd been here, and he got all of his schoolwork in on time.

"Mr. Milligan," began the woman, "One of my colleagues in this school has had reason to believe that you are currently not in the most stable home environment."

Adam blinked, processing what she had just said.

"Wait," he said, "you thing that my brother has been hitting me or something?"

Her expression did not falter, although the principal seemed slightly uncomfortable with the situation.

"Yes," she stated. The teenaged Hunter-in-training glared at her.

"My brother," he growled out, "has never done anything to hurt me. Neither has his wife. And they treat their own son just fine, too."

The woman gestured to his arm, where the faint bruising was still slightly visible.

"Care to explain what happened there?" she asked him, almost as if she were offering a challenge.

Adam snorted. He wouldn't even need to lie about this. Well, he'd need to leave out the part where he'd been training to kill monsters, but it wasn't like kids didn't hunt regular animals.

"Clint was showing me how to use a bow and arrow a few days ago," he said, smirking ever so slightly. "I sucked, so he took me to a shooting range instead, and the rebound kept making my arm jerk back. He was holding me steady."

He saw her mouth turn down in the barest hint of a frown, but she did not try to pick apart his story.

"Would you please inform me as to why you are living with your brother and his family, and not your own parents?"

He clenched his jaw briefly. Just thinking about his mother made him feel a dark emptiness within himself. He knew that his brothers felt more or less the same way about their own mother, but her loss was still fairly recent. It hadn't even been a full year.

"My mom was killed last summer," he said finally, not looking at either of the adults in the room. "And I was supposed to be sent to my dad, but he and two of my brothers had been in an accident, so Clint took care of me. Not long after, my dad passed away."

He raised his head and looked the woman directly in the eyes, daring her to say something. And, of course, she did.

"Why did your other brothers not take you in?" she asked him, writing something down on a notepad. "I'm assuming they are over the age of twenty one?"

Adam gave an exaggerated sigh and leaned back in the chair. This was getting boring.

"Dean just turned twenty eight, and Sam's almost twenty four. They travel around the country doing odd jobs and stuff, and Clint insisted that I get a real education." He glared once more at the woman. "He only has my best interests in mind, he's never hit me, his wife, or his son, and he doesn't belittle me. He and my other brothers lost their own mom long before I came along, and Clint knew what I was feeling. We've bonded quite well, thanks."

He glanced towards the principal.

"Can I leave now? I want to actually get to lunch on time."

The principal looked towards the woman, who frowned.

"You may leave," she conceded, "But I will be coming by your home within the next few weeks to verify that you are living in a stable environment."

Adam almost snorted. Nothing in his life counted as 'stable' anymore, not when your parents had been killed by demons.

* * *

Clint loved his farm.

It was full of the peace that he'd never known in his life as both a Hunter and an assassin, and he relished the days that he spent here with Laura and Cooper. And having Adam here… it made things feel more like a real family.

He was out in the yard behind the house, chopping wood, when Laura approached him. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. He turned his head slightly so that he was facing her, and offered a smile.

"What was that for?" he said, and she kissed him again, this time on the mouth.

"You need to come into the house," she said. "Adam just got home from school, and he said that he needs to speak with the both of us."

Clint tried to imagine what could have happened at the high school that would warrant a discussion that required _both_ of his legal guardians, but shook it off. The kid probably just wanted to try out for baseball, or something.

He did not want to try out for baseball.

"So, a guidance councilor lady or whoever thinks that I'm living in an 'unsuitable home'," the youngest of the Winchester brothers began, making air quotes as he spoke. "And she's gonna come here or whatever, so just a heads up."

Clint furrowed his brow.

"Why would someone think that?" he questioned, and Adam rolled back his sleeve to reveal his bruises. "But those are from when I took you to the shooting range!" he said, slightly annoyed. "Anyone who has any experience with firearms would know that!"

Adam shot him a deadpan look – it was so reminiscent of Sam that it was almost scary – and answered.

"And how many school faculty members do you think have experience with guns, Clint? They're civilians, not Hunters."

Clint groaned and rubbed a hand over his face, and Laura frowned.

"Wouldn't she need a warrant for that?" she asked, looking to her husband. "Clint? I think you could pull rank on her."

The archer shook his head.

"You know what?" he said. "No! Let this bitch come, and we can show you that we are an awesome family. We nurture you, and shit."

Cooper, who had just began to toddle around, walked into the room carrying one of his father's training arrows.

"Clint," Laura said warningly, looking down at her son, but the assassin was too engrossed to acknowledge her.

"And you know what else? How dare they make this poor kid who just suffered tragic loss to do this kind of crap! Who does that?"

"Clint!"

"What?" he said, finally having heard her, but it was too late. "Ouch!"

Cooper had jabbed the back of his father's shin with the arrow, and while it wasn't a particularly bad injury, that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

The toddler just giggled.

* * *

"She's here," Adam called as he sat in a chair by the front window. He had a perfect view of the front yard, and could see the bitchy woman from last week coming up the front walkway.

Laura leaned over to look out as well, and pursed her lips at the sight of the woman.

"She has a lot of gall, showing up here after those accusations," she muttered. "I'll go make something for her to drink." She turned and winked at her youngest brother-in-law. "With plenty of holy water."

Adam snickered, and the woman knocked on the front door. He begrudgingly got up from his comfortable position and opened the door, inviting her inside.

However, she barely made it past the threshold before it seemed as if she had run into an invisible wall.

Oh, _crap._

"Clint!" Adam called, slightly panicking. "She's a demon!"

The woman growled and her eyes turned black.

"Stupid Winchester brat!" she snarled. "I swear, I don't know what my employer sees in any of you, but none of you are worth it."

Clint barged into the front room and wasted no time before chanting an exorcism under his breath. The woman threw her head back and let out an unearthly scream, expelling billowing black smoke as she did so.

And then she was gone, leaving the unconscious councilor in her place.

"Well," Clint said weakly, shooting Adam a look. "Now we know why she was so insistent that she come over."

Adam shook his head in disbelief.

"Our lives are weird," He declared.

END


End file.
